Fault
by Animegirl1129
Summary: In which Steve did not wait for back-up, again, and Danny is very much not happy with their present predicament. (Steve/Danny)


Fault

_**Written in response to trope_bingo prompt: celebratory kiss (sort of). Characters are not mine, please enjoy! Comments are awesome.  
**_

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"This is all your fault."

"My fault?" Steve counters, head twisting around to try to catch Danny's eyes, despite the present urgency of their situation."How, exactly, is this my fault?"

If Danny could throw his arms up incredulous exasperation, he would. As it stands, his arms are tied together and also tied to Steve's tied together arms with impressively ridiculous knots that even Steve himself cannot figure out. Instead, he heaves a great, put-upon breath and explains, "Because, Steven," he snaps, "if you had listened to me any of the last _thousand times_ I've told you to wait for our goddamned backup, we would not be tied to a bomb right now!"

And, well, Steve apparently has no response to that, which is actually not a good thing. It means he's not up for one of their bantery arguments and that means he's actually concerned about getting them out of this situation and Danny had kind of been counting on the opposite. "Any time you wanna MacGuyver us outta this, feel free."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Danny tries, but he can feel the rigid tension in Steve's back, where it's pressed against his and he knows this is really not good. "Be Super SEAL, because that's the only way we're getting out of this, okay?"

He feels Steve nod, feels the movements of his hands as he fights to undo the mess of knots between them, feels it when the knot only gets tighter.

"Damn it!" Steve curses, scrabbling at a different piece of rope that also refuses to give.

"Steve," Danny tries, catching one of Steve's hands in his own, holding tight. "Steve, relax. You can do it, I know you can."

"I don't know that," Steve admits, squeezing back. He makes the mistake of glancing at the timer on the bomb, which the sadistic bomber had left in plain view for them. Only a little over two minutes remain before there will be nothing left of either of them. "God, Danno, I'm... I don't know if I can get us out of this."

"Well, I do. So just... just relax and try again and you'll get it, okay?"

Steve takes a deep breath and tries something else, twisting his arm in what has to be an astoundingly painful way to get at the other side of the knot and pulling and pushing and maneuvering until finally something loosens enough for Danny to get first one, and then the other hand out. He's quick to turn, to undo the ropes that are cutting into Steve's wrists, too, and luckily the blocks of C4 fall away with the ropes.

"Run," Steve says, rather unnecessarily, grabbing for Danny's arm as he hurries him out the door to the old warehouse. They make it to the pier just outside before Steve hears the tell-tale woosh of air that comes just before the concussive blast of an explosion. He more or less tackles Danny off the edge of the pier and into the water, where they'll be safe from the blast and mostly clear of any debris, holds tight until the brilliant blurs of fiery oranges and reds above them dull back to the usual sky blues.

They come up sputtering and out of breath, one of Steve's hands still tight on Danny's arm.

Still treading water, they both turn to stare at the damage the bomb had done. The knowledge that they could have been inside is sobering and Danny feels Steve's grip on him tighten, like he's realized the same.

So, it is Danny who makes the first move, salt-stung eyes flicking from the burning remains of the warehouse they'd nearly died in over to Steve's guilty face, and Danny's anger dissipates from him at the sight. "C'mere, you giant goof," he says, fists curling into Steve's soaked shirt and hauling him closer.

Steve is the one to surge forward, though, catching Danny off guard with the desperate press of lips on lips. Hands resettle on Danny's hips, well below the water that laps at their shoulders. He holds on tight, there, too, as he had on Danny's arm.

"We made it," Danny breathes out, the words lost in Steve's mouth, which barely breaks from his own for air. "We made it, okay? We're okay."

There are sirens now, close. The response to the explosion, not the back-up that never got called, but Steve stays there, head pressed to Danny's in the cool water as the flames flicker overhead. "Next time we wait for back-up, Danno, I swear. Next time, every time."

"Okay, Super SEAL," Danny says, stealing another kiss, and wishing he could wipe away that guilty, nearly broken look because he didn't mean for it to linger like this, not really. He holds on until they can hear the voices of the fire crews, the cops, the medics, all searching and assessing the scene, then he's pulling himself back up onto the dock, offering a hand to Steve who trails after him. Wet clothes stick to them like second skins, and seem to add a disproportionate amount of weight, making everything slog heavily downward, makes him long for a hot shower and dry clothes. "Let's give our statements and get out of here, yeah?" He suggests, one hand settling on Steve's shoulder. "Someone else can get the bad guy, just this once."

"Yeah, okay," Steve agrees, much to Danny's surprise, and they both walk away from the blackening walls of the burning warehouse.


End file.
